


c'mon spaceman (the cosmos are waiting)

by foureyedme



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: & civil war didn’t happen bc i control the story & i say so, F/M, M/M, Soulmate AU, also there's a lot of avengers, also they recruited more avengers instead of just keeping it them, always a female Peter Parker, okay this is NOT the peter parker from the marvel cinematic universe payton is 28!!!, peter is payton bc i thought peter & peter would get confusing, the one where they have the nickname their soulmate calls them somewhere, this isn’t compliant for the mcu after about halfway through age of ultron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 10:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16808809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foureyedme/pseuds/foureyedme
Summary: When she decided to stay home instead of relaxing at the Compound on her day off, Payton didn't really expect an entire spaceship to crash in her backyard. She probably should've seen it coming.Alternatively, what happens when I don't want to write the next chapter for my two wips that I haven't updated in 2+ years :)Alternatively, yet another Marvel Soulmate AU by yours truly.





	c'mon spaceman (the cosmos are waiting)

After the life she’d lived so far, there wasn’t much Payton _didn’t_ expect to happen to her. Being the Crimson Spider wasn’t easy, after all, and New York’s criminals were slowly getting more creative about their attacks. Just last week some furry in a wolf suit who called himself ‘Alpha’ threw a live chicken at her in a bodega in Staten Island.

Moral of the story: Payton was used to some weird shit. Usually, though, the weird shit happened while she was fighting crime. This? Did not. She was gonna have a hell of a time explaining this one to Jenkins. Fuck, he was gonna _evict_ her! Really, the spaceship just had to crash into _her_ backyard? She was a good person. She tried to be, at least, if the whole Avenger thing didn’t tip you off. But when you think about it, how could it? She was the only one with a secret identity. Hell, even Kamala was a public figure.

Whatever. That wasn’t the point.

The point was, Payton was a good ass person and didn’t deserve any of this shit. She sighed from in front of the sliding glass door in her kitchen. “Damn,” she muttered, eyes tracking over the – actually really cool looking – spaceship in her yard. She pushed the door open with her right hand and shot off some texts to Tony with the other.

**_to_ invincibleironman: **

_heads up im pretty sure aliens just crashed in my yard_

_its kind of cool i guess_

_hope they come in peace_

Payton stepped outside and slipped the door shut behind her. She kept her eyes on the ship in her yard and damn if it didn’t suddenly look bigger than it had while she was inside. She was lucky she didn’t share her backyard with anything except the tree line. She’d probably have bigger concerns than kicking ass if she had to fight the invaders.

Creeping forward, Payton noticed a flash of movement through the glass windshield. The pilot? There was a number of things she expected to see next. Based off the ship, it wasn’t Asgardian or those weird things that had attacked Greenwich. Truthfully, she had no idea what was going to pop out at her, which was probably why she was so underwhelmed – but still equal parts curious and interested, don’t get her wrong – when a robot looking dude fell out of the side with his gloved hands up. He looked like something Tony could have thrown together. Of course, all of that meant she was severely underprepared for the huge-ass shirtless, tattooed green alien that came out the side next. Or the smaller, darker green woman who followed him. Definitely not the raccoon with what looked like a grenade launcher strapped onto its back and a little – actually Payton didn’t know what the fuck that was – _something_ on its shoulder.

“Wow,” Payton said suddenly, and they all jerked to look at her. “Star Wars did not prepare me for this.”

The robot-looking guy straightened up instantly. “They still have Star Wars?”

 _Okay, what the fuck_ , Payton thought, before scrambling for something to say as her pocket buzzed rapidly. “That sentence implies you’ve been here before. I’m compelled to ask you who the hell you are, and why you crash landed in my backyard.” _For the love of all that is holy, Tony, stop texting me. With my luck, they can sense vibrations._

The tattooed man scoffed, and Payton narrowed her eyes at her. “We owe no answers to you, Terran.”

Payton raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” she started, “first off: rude.” The robot-looking guy shrugged as if to say, ‘sorry, but that _is_ his way’. “Secondly, you landed in _my_ yard, dude, not the other way around, which means that I am, in fact, due an answer. Third, yeah we ‘still have Star Wars’.” She paused. “Oh fuck, I hope you don’t think those are documentaries. They’re just stories, we can’t actually use the Force – the Force isn’t real. I think.” If she died here, she was gonna haunt the fuck out of George Lucas.

The thing on the raccoon’s shoulder spoke up next, and Payton really shouldn’t have been as shocked as she was. “I am Groot,” it said, and okay, that made absolutely no fucking sense, thanks. For one, knowing his name helped her not all, two, she already knew he was from space, and three, there was no fucking way she was going to go with them.

The raccoon opened its mouth and Payton resigned herself to wanting to die. “Yeah, Groot, we know.” Somewhere in the back recesses of her mind, Payton noticed that he kind of sounded like Bradley Cooper. “And no, you can’t keep her.”

Payton wondered if she should be concerned with her future safety. “Can I get an answer? Preferably _before_ my landlord evicts me.”

Robot-dude grimaced. Or, at least Payton thought he did. He was a robot, it was kind of hard to tell. “Oh man, that’s illin’. He’s gonna kick you out because we landed in your yard?”

He sounded human enough, which was strange. She would’ve thought that aliens had a totally different language or at least a different vocabulary. Alright, addendum, he _kind of_ sounded human. Payton wasn’t sure what the fuck “illin’” meant, but the way he said, “They still have Star Wars?” sort of implied that he had once been to Earth, maybe was _from_ Earth but left somehow. And “illin” sounded like it could’ve been used by teens in the eighties. Maybe. Shit, Payton didn’t know. She was a kid during the nineties. Also, he was pretty advanced for a robot from the nineties. Hell, he was advanced for a robot _now_.

“I am Groot,” the small thing said again.

“That was just as insightful as the first time you said it, small dude.” Really, what was knowing that he was sorry they had inconvenienced her going to do for the current situation? Payton slipped her phone out of her pocket and prayed for the best as she dialed Tony’s number. Of _course_ this had to happen on her day off. She lifted the phone up to eye-level and glanced back to the aliens. They were all watching her cautiously, like _she_ was the one who crash-landed into _their_ backyard. Honestly, at this point, it might just be better for her to move into Avengers Tower. At the rate she was going, she was going to get kicked out anyways.

Tony picked up on the third ring, his face appearing in a hologram in front of her, and she watched as the aliens fell into defensive positions. She sent out another tiny prayer to Heimdall that they wouldn’t attack her. Quick healing or not, it still took time for her be work-ready after a bad fight, and with the odds – five against one, and _yes,_ she was counting the miniature tree named Groot – it was definitely going to be a bad fight for her if it came down to it. “Salutations, spiderling.” He greeted. “Can I ask what the call is for?”

“You have always had that option, Mr. Stark,” Payton said with a smile she didn’t feel. The robot seemed to perk out of his defensive position at the mention of Stark.

“Oh no,” Tony said with an only slightly pretend worried look. “You’re bringing out formalities on your day off? Not a good sign. So,” he spun around in his chair to pick up something on the table before spinning back around to face her. “What’s the call for, itsy bitsy?”

Payton flipped the phone around, letting Tony see the aliens in her yard and the still flaming wreckage of their ship. “Good news,” she said dryly, “is that they didn’t ask me to take them to my leader. I just figured that you’d be one of the best equipped to deal with this.” She turned the phone back to face her. “This is me requesting immediate back up that actually knows how to – diplomatically – handle crash-landing aliens.”

“I’ll be there in five.” Tony flashed a grin at the camera before jumping up from his seat and striding towards the Iron Man suit’s assembling strut.

“Not you!”

“JARVIS,” Tony intoned as he reached the steps, “be a dear and cut the call.”

Payton stared at her phone with a face full of regret. “I should’ve called Pepper first.” She looked back up at the aliens, who, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be looking at her with renewed interest. Truthfully, she had no clue what they were looking at her with. They were aliens, and one of them looked like a fucking raccoon. “So,” Payton tucked her phone back into her back pocket. “You want to come inside? I’ve been told I make excellent ramen.”

*

Payton turned back to her alien guests, all of them seated at her small kitchen table with miscellaneous objects from around her house acting as chairs for the three who didn’t have a regular chair.

The robot and the green woman were using the real chairs, and the small thing really had no need for one, so he was sitting on the table. The raccoon was boosted up by the sole recliner in the house and three stacked pillows, and the big tattooed green dude was sitting on one of Payton’s numerous footstools.

“So,” the robot said, drawing the word out. “We should probably introduce ourselves.”

The raccoon looked up from where he was disassembling Payton’s toaster. “And why the hell should we do that, Quill?” Without looking, he pried one of the walls loose and dropped it onto the table. _Damn, she was gonna need a new toaster._

“She’s making us food?” The robot – Quill? – tilted his head as his voice got higher. It was strange. He didn’t sound like she’d expect a robot from the nineties to sound. His voice was a lot smoother. Did Tony build him? Was that why he’d perked up when he saw the inventor’s face? “Not just any food, either, Rocket; she’s making Ramen noodles.”

“Great,” the raccoon rolled its eyes. “Terran food. If we’re lucky, maybe it _won’t_ poison us.”

The robot stiffened and leaned forwards. “How was I supposed to know chocolate wasn’t safe for you to eat?”

Payton raised an eyebrow. “Dude,” she said, “he’s a raccoon. Chocolate isn’t good for _any_ animal to eat. It’s basically pure sugar. Even some humans can’t stand it.” She turned back to the stove when she heard the first signs of the water boiling. Super hearing definitely had its perks, and this was definitely one of them. She started to rip open the packages and remove the flavoring. It was lucky she had so many things of ramen in her cupboard. Though, really, what else was she supposed to be able to afford? She was lucky to not have to be living off of wish sandwiches.

A whispered conversation broke out behind her, and Payton wanted to applaud them. Finally, she’d be getting some damn answers. Maybe she’d manage to learn why they were here _before_ Tony got there and dragged them off to the compound, where Thor would be meeting them.

*

“I’m just saying,” Peter hissed, glancing over to where the Terran stood in front of the stove, dumping the ramen into the boiling water. “It wouldn’t hurt to try to make an ally right now.”

Gamora scoffed. “A Terran is no real ally. You are all weak and extremely susceptible to the dangers lurking in the cosmos. Your endurance is pitiful, and your reflexes pathetic.” She met his eyes and shrugged. “No offense.”

“I’m supposed to not take offense to that? How was that not offensive?”

“I am Groot.” Groot waved his arms around.

“Yeah, I know. Rude, right?”

Gamora made a dangerous noise. It sounded like a growl, but it was ten times deadlier. Peter had learned to be wary of it after she literally ripped a man’s head off that one time. He needed to tread carefully here, or he’d lose his.

“Alright, fine. No Terran allies.” He raised a hand to forestall the rest of his team’s comments. “But it wouldn’t hurt to play nice with her. I remember hearing about Tony Stark before Yondu picked me up. Stark Industries is a major technology and weapons corporation. She works for the man who probably now heads it, and he knows her well enough to 1: call her by fond nicknames, and 2: come immediately to her rescue basically unprompted, which means that he’d probably be willing to kill us with those weapons. Besides, none of you have ever been here before, so there’s no way the Terrans knowing your names will do you any damage.”

Rocket bared his teeth. “It wouldn’t help us any either, Quill.”

Peter sighed through his nose. Sometimes, he just wanted to shoot his team a couple times with a high-voltage taser. Not enough to kill them, of course, but they’d shut up long enough for him to actually be able to make a point.

Drax slammed his hand down on the table. Peter saw the Terran girl jump slightly and go tense. “Enough.” Drax barked. “This bickering is worthless. We are only coming back to the beginning of the conversation.”

Gamora nodded. “My point exactly.”

Peter huffed. “Terrans are weak my ass,” he muttered. “I basically kicked yours when we first met.”

Drax continued as though he had never been interrupted. “There is no reason for me to not tell a member of a weaker species my name. She cannot harm me.”

*

Payton was getting a little tired of being ridiculed by the aliens in her kitchen. It wasn’t like they were really making an effort to keep their voices down, minus the robot and the green woman. The green tattooed man was almost as loud as Thor, and the raccoon, she thought, probably just didn’t give a fuck.

She grabbed five bowls out of the cupboard, thought better of it, and returned one to replace it with a tiny dish Aunt May had given her for gravy. She dumped the ramen into a strainer before divvying it up for the aliens and dropping the flavoring packets on top. She filled the smaller gravy bowl with water for Groot, who, at a closer look, appeared to be a small tree.

When Payton turned to tell the aliens that the food was ready, she found herself face to face with the green woman, which was a little concerning considering she was supposed to have super hearing, and she hadn’t been able to hear the alien woman approach. Payton wanted to take a step back but felt that it was a good idea to not show the fear she was definitely feeling.

“Hi,” she said instead. “Food’s done.”

The green woman stared at her for a good thirty seconds. Payton could see the robot putting his face in his hands in the background as the green man stood up to walk over to them. “Peter,” the green lady said with a measure of derision, “has decided that it is necessary for us to tell you our names. For the sake of not getting stuck in another one of his ridiculous moping sessions, I will comply. I am Gamora, one of the five members that make up the Guardians of the Galaxy, and an ex-assassin. It is,” her lip curled the slightest bit, “a _pleasure_ to meet you.”

Payton blinked. Well, that had been completely condescending. “Thanks, I guess,” she flashed her a quick smile with all of her teeth. “I’m Payton Parker.” _One of the twenty-two members of the Avengers_ , she wanted to add. _And we have THREE ex-assassins, you’re not that special; well, four if you want to count Wanda, but I don’t, so three is fine._

“ _Oh my God, Gamora, what the fuck?”_ The robot slumped completely onto the table. Payton felt kind of bad for him.

“And I am Drax,” the green man announced, and continued with, “The Destroyer. I am another member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I do not find making your company to be particularly unpleasant, so I also find it a pleasure to introduce myself to you.”

 _Alright,_ Payton thought. _This is fucking weird. Tony, where are you?_

“Hi, Drax the Destroyer. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” The smile she flashed him was a lot more pleasant than the one Gamora had received.

The raccoon made a scoffing noise at her and was instantly accosted by the small thing named Groot. “I am Groot!” He protested, and Payton would have held a hand up to her heart if it weren’t for the bowls of ramen on her arm.

“Thanks, Groot,” she said instead, moving to the table so she could set down the bowls. “But he doesn’t have to tell me his name if he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t need to apologize either. Now, here’s the ramen; do you guys want water or Gatorade?”

The robot sat up excitedly. “You have Gatorade? What flavors?"

Payton moved back to the fridge, and pulled it open, dropping into a squat to look into the bottom drawer. “Uh, looks like I have Arctic Freeze, White Cherry, Rain Berry, and Grape.” She pulled a Rain Berry out for herself and tossed it up on the counter, where it landed perfectly, if Payton was allowed to brag.

“Ooh, Arctic Freeze. Please, and thank you.” Payton was pleased to see that the robot had good taste when it came to his drinks. Wait. Could he drink?

Payton turned around with the drinks in hand and eyed the robot in curiosity. How advanced was he? “You can drink?” The robot tilted his head. “Like, it won’t mess up your circuitry? No fried wires?”

The robot blinked at her, looking exceedingly confused. Well, as confused as a being of metal could be, which actually, thinking of Tony’s bots and the suits, was extremely. Damn, all the signs pointed to him being made by Tony. But there was that whole bit about Stark Industries, and some ‘Yondu’, but Payton would still – _maybe_ – put money on Tony having a hand in his whole robotry gig.

“What?” The robot asked – the raccoon had called him Quill, maybe that was what he went by – and Payton frowned. What about her questions was confusing?

“The drink won’t hurt you?” She clarified. “Seeing as, y’know, you’re a robot?”

The robot blinked again, and the raccoon lost it.

“Quill is not a robot,” Drax said. “He is a squishy and fragile Terran, as you are.”

“He’s wearing a helmet,” Gamora said, crossing her arms and smirking.

“You thought I was a robot?” Quill asked, and he sounded like he was smiling.

Payton flushed. “Well, what was I supposed to think? You’re wearing a metal helmet! And it didn’t seem like the most outrageous outcome to find my way to, considering you’re all literally aliens, and I work for a man who’s made his life by creating AIs and robots. And the Iron Man suits.”

The robot definitely had to be grinning now, as Groot piped up in the background, walking towards the water bowl. He was her favorite, Payton decided, and barely restrained an eye-roll as Quill started talking again. “Okay, but still, a robot? Like Terminator?”

Payton didn’t bother holding back her glare. “Okay, spaceman, you’ve made your point.”

Quill put his hands up in the apparently universal gesture for surrender. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, clearly not apologetic. He actually looked kind of tense. Payton cocked her head to the side unconsciously.

*

Payton remembered the day she asked her aunt and uncle about the word written on her wrist. She’d been about six, and she had just gotten home from school, where the other girls had been showing each other their words, but nobody had told her why.

“Aunt May,” Payton said, climbing up on the couch beside where she and Uncle Ben were sitting, watching the Food Network. Aunt May had paused the TV and turned to face Payton.

“Yes, sweetie?” She asked, giving Payton her full attention. Unbeknownst to Payton, the first-grade teachers had all sent out emails to the guardians of their students, warning them that their charges might be asking them about their words soon. May elbowed Ben, who was still focused on the book in his hand.

“Hmm, yes?” He looked up, focusing his attention on Payton, who beamed at him, momentarily distracted.

She wasn’t distracted for long, though.

Payton tilted her head. “What does the word on my arm mean?”

Ben made a faint sound like he was dying. “ _Already_?” He whispered to his wife, who smiled and patted his leg.

“Sweetie,” May said kindly, “the word on your arm is what your soulmate is going to call you.” May picked Payton up and depositing her in between herself and Ben. “Your soulmate is going to call you ‘stardust’ most often, like your Uncle Ben calls me his darling, and I call him handsome.”

“What’s a soulmate?” Payton asked excitedly, turning from her aunt to her uncle. “Are you two soulmates? What’s stardust? Why’s that what they call me?”

May laughed at Payton’s enthusiasm and leaned forwards as if telling her a secret. “A soulmate is someone who will love you more than the rest of the world,” she told the six-year-old, who bounced in between her aunt and uncle, eyes wide and curious. “They’ll be there for you, no matter what happens, and you’ll be there for them, too.”

Payton turned her awed eyes onto the word slanted across her forearm and brushed her fingers across it gently. “Stardust,” she said and smiled.

*

Peter stared at the Terran girl from across the kitchen. What were the odds, he asked himself. What were the odds that this girl – one who was empathetic enough to help out a bunch of aliens that literally crash-landed into her yard, acknowledging and subsequently ignoring the real possibility that her landlord might kick her out – would call him spaceman? His right arm itched. Her voice echoed in his head. He felt like he’d been staring at her forever, and even with the knowledge that his family would definitely never let him live it down, he wanted to continue doing it. He wanted to map out the features of this potential soulmate of his.

She was beautiful, of that there was no doubt. If Gamora hadn’t made it abundantly clear that if he tried anything with a woman in front of her ever again, she’d castrate him, he would definitely have flirted with her from the moment he saw her emerge from the sliding glass doors of her house, not armed in the slightest, and moving towards the Milano. Black dreadlocks, hickory brown eyes, and a smile as sharp as her senses. Peter had seen her tense every time Gamora had said something derogatory about Terrans, and he knew that she couldn’t have heard him unless Terrans had figured out the super soldier serum while he’d been gone.

“So,” he said cheerfully enough for his current situation, “what exactly do you do here on Terra?”

Payton rolled her eyes, and for a moment Peter thought he asked the wrong question. “I work for an overgrown child,” she told him, and there was a noise of affront from the doorway. Peter wanted to swear at the realization that the cavalry had come, and he probably wouldn't regain his chance to question Payton too much. Also, at the fact that most likely both Payton and Gamora had known the man was in the house but didn’t choose to share it with the class.

“Rude!” A man’s voice said as he pushed through the door, coming into view. “I’m only 5’6’’, I can’t be too overgrown for a child.” His eyes flicked over to the aliens, assessing them even as he smiled charmingly. “Tony Stark,” he said needlessly, spreading his hands out in front of him. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Oh no,” Payton said under her breath, “I wouldn’t get started with _that_ if I were you.”

Peter eyed her, amused. They had too much in common.

Gamora didn't find it as funny as Peter did.

*

Tony looked at Payton questioningly. She shrugged. She was just trying to protect him. “Tony,” she said, making a wide sweeping arc with her arm, “meet the Guardians of the Galaxy. Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Bumblebee. No clue what the raccoon goes by. He refuses to tell us his name due to our species’ natural inferiority to him.” She gestured to each of the aliens in turn, and the turned to Tony and put one hand to the side of her mouth to stage whisper. “I wouldn’t trust the robot, he referred to himself as the Terminator.”

Tony snorted, then took a closer look at Spaceman. “He’s a robot?” A thoughtful look passed over his face before it was replaced with something akin to childish excitement. “A space robot?”

The space robot made a protesting noise. “I’m not a robot!”

Tony frowned. “Pity. You sure?”

Spaceman raised up a hand and pushed something on his helmet, and they watched as it retracted much like Tony’s latest suit. Tony and Payton instantly perked up – Tony because _holy shit technology_ , and Payton partially for that reason but also because _holy shit spaceman was hot_.

Tony started asking him questions about his helmet rapid-fire, while Payton stared unashamedly at the decidedly _not_ robot-alien. She couldn’t even be disappointed that it meant that he was just a _regular_ alien. (And holy shit, she had a _regular alien_ category, what was her life turning into?) Not-A-Robot-Quill glanced over at her from where he was fielding questions, grinned, and winked. _Damn_ , but it was unfair for him to look that good with stubble. Light brown hair, brown eyes, white teeth, and a jawline sharp enough to cut through one of Wanda’s shields. And the stubble. Can’t forget the stubble.

Also, the long red leather jacket, and what looked like thruster boots, not even counting the deconstructing helmet. Payton had died and gone to attractive and technologically capable _heaven._ Now all he had to do was call her stardust, and she’d know he was the perfect man for her.

*

After a half hour of continued questioning – about the helmet, thruster boots, etc., as well as what they intended to do until their ship was fixed, as well as another half hour for them to finish their ramen and get what they needed from the ship – Tony decided to haul them and The Milano back to the compound to offer them shelter while he worked with Quill and Rocket (who had graciously allowed them the knowledge of his name) to fix it.

“You coming, underoos?” Tony asked while the Guardians pulled their belongings from the no longer flaming ship in her backyard.

Payton considered the question, tapping her fork against her chin and humming. She leaned her head back and turned to look at him. “Might as well,” she said. “I don’t have anything else to do. Was figuring I’d just patrol the rooftops today.”

“That’s great news, considering I need someone to fly the Quinjet to the compound while I run ahead in the suit and get everything ready.”

Payton sent him a deadpan look. “And what would you have done if I'd said no?”

Tony pretended to look thoughtful. “Reminded you of the last time someone unexpectedly swung past the compound and said hi to Bucky.”

Payton frowned at the memory, rubbing her back as they wandered out her back door to where the aliens and the two ships were waiting. “I still maintain that he knocked one of my kidneys loose with the first punch, and then set it back again with the roundhouse kick.”

“I still don’t understand how you didn’t feel that coming.”

A loud cry of victory came from the ship and both Tony and Payton looked up from where they were sat in front of Payton’s sliding glass doors, only to see Spaceman tumble out the side of his ship, holding something up in his hands. “Eureka!”

Payton raised an eyebrow. “I never thought I’d see the day a Walkman was the source of that much joy.” She said to Tony.

“That’s a Walkman? _Holy shit_.” Tony’s eyes were wide. “I haven’t seen one of those since the early eighties.”

Payton snorted and tilted her head as they watched the ‘only-half’ alien jump from foot to foot while he plugged in a pair of old-school headphones. “At least we know he’s been to Earth since they invented the Walkman.”

“You kidding me?” Tony looked affronted. “He can’t be older than 24.”

“Tony,” Payton said, “I’m 28, how old do you think 24 looks?”

“I don’t know, how old do you think he is?”

Payton squinted in thought. The jawline, the leather coat, and the Walkman. “With how excited he is about the damn Walkman, he must’ve got it relatively soon after it came out. Also, he said ‘illin’, which _has_ to be some sort of eighties slang. With that, I’d say he’s probably about 30, oldest 33.”

Tony slanted his eyes back at her. “You think?” He asked, looking thoughtful as he gave Quill a once-over.

“Only one way to know,” Payton said with a grin. “Yo!” She yelled. “Spaceman!”

Spaceman looked back up, the strange tensing of his muscles back. Not that Payton was going to complain; he’d taken his jacket off a while back, and now she got to see them up close and personal. Well, at least as up close and personal as the green lady – Gamora – would allow her to. Payton wondered why she was so territorial about him. Holy shit, please don’t tell her they were dating, please for the love of Thor don’t say that she already has dibs on spaceman.

Payton watched as Spaceman faked a grin – a charming one, but a fake one. “Yo!” He yelled back, jogging over to them, and then, “Stardust.”

Payton’s heart stopped.

 _“Your soulmate is going to call you ‘stardust’_ _most often...”_

If someone were to ask her what happened next, she could probably recite it word for word, but none of that could be attributed to her good attention skills. All of it could be attributed to the radioactive spider that chose her as good breeding grounds for superheroes. Wait, no, that doesn’t sound good. Attributed to the radioactive spider that chose Payton as the most responsible person that had ever snuck into her nesting place while trying to hide from someone who knew she wasn’t supposed to be on the tour of the labs that Bruce Banner used when he became the Hulk. Slightly better. More truthful, at least. Still off, though.

Whatever.

The point is that Payton was one hundred percent out of it for the rest of the conversation. The only part of her brain that she was actively paying attention to would be the part screaming a mix of _“holy shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit oh my god no way holy shit shit shit shit shit shit shit”_ and _“stardust he called me stardust oh my god is a coincidence he called me STARDUST”_.

She was kind of a mess.

“This feels like I’m being sidelined.” Spaceman complained, and Payton snapped back into reality. Oh, look, she was in the Quinjet. Actually, she was in the pilot seat. Oh, wow, she was in the air. _How long had she been in the air?_

“Sorry, our ‘jet, our rules, spaceman,” Payton said, squinting at the open sky in front of her. She had to have been out of it for at least five minutes, they were already halfway to the Compound.

Spaceman made an indistinct noise next to her as Payton tried desperately to think of what had happened in the time she was screaming internally. Thank Asgard for auto-pilot in human beings.

“I’m a _pilot_ ,” Quill complained. “I have my own ship that I fly, and well, may I add.”

Payton turned from the steer to face him. “You crashed in my backyard.” She said flatly.

Spaceman turned pink and spluttered. “We’d been shot! The ship integrity was compromised! You can’t say I crashed it because I’m a terrible pilot,” he waved his hands around while he tried to defend himself. Payton thought it was kind of cute. “We’d been attacked, and I can promise you that landing was the safest one I’ve ever seen an on-fire ship make!”

Payton snorted and turned back to face the sky. The rest of Spaceman’s team made similar noises, and a quiet “I am Groot” made her laugh out loud.

Spaceman turned to face the tree with an offended look. “You’re taking her side?” He asked his team. “And the Ravagers are not terrible pilots! We may not have the best ships in the ‘verse but that’s hardly something to hold against us.” He stuck his nose in the air. “We do our best with what we can.”

“I am Groot.”

Spaceman gasped dramatically and winked at her out of the corner of his eye. “How dare you!”

*

The Terran girl – he’d decided he’d call her _stardust_ , since Payton didn’t really seem to cover it – landed smoothly in the dead center of a sprawling compound about fifteen minutes from her house. Rocket was the first out the hatch, being the least comfortable in ships he hadn’t had a hand in building, or ‘upgrading’. The damn bastard had hacked his computers to play nothing but Huian electro-funk music for three weeks.

 _“You learned the language, though, didn’t ya Quill?”_ Rocket had asked, smug as all hell.

Peter got him back with shaving cream in his favorite grenade launcher.

Rocket’s retaliation had hit Drax and the next thing Peter knew there were three knives in their faces and a growled threat to their nether regions if any of them thought about targeting her next. Peter bolted from her presence the next two weeks, afraid someone would target her while he was in the room with her and therefore an easy target for her anger.

Peter was out of the door last, lingering behind Stardust, who followed Drax. Groot perched himself on her shoulder and had let loose a torrent of compliments, from her ‘bark’ and her ‘leaves’ to her tattoos. Stardust was laughing, though, and seemed to be thanking him, which led him to think she could understand him.

“So,” Peter said, jogging a bit to match stride with the Terran girl. “You and Groot seem friendly.”

Stardust flashed him a smile as she turned to face him. Groot protested. “He’s a friendly alien. I keep trying to tell him I don’t have bark, though.”

Peter grinned as he saw one of Groot’s branches wrap around to his shoulder as he moved himself over. “It’s what he calls skin.” Peter watched as understanding dawned on her face, and she twitched her nose at Groot when he told her that her bark was the darkest he’d seen on a Terran.

“You’ve only ever met me before we crashed here, Groot, and I’m only half-Terran.”

Stardust’s eyes flicked back to him. “Only half?” She asked, interested, before –

“Parker!”

Stardust’s head snapped around and she grinned at the man who’d called her name.

“Frosty!” She shouted, breaking out into a dead sprint.

The man she was running to looked annoyingly familiar, but Peter couldn’t place him. He also couldn’t place the flare of jealousy that surged through him when they collided in a hug, and the man spun Stardust around. It took him a few more seconds to reach the rest of his team, who had stopped about half a dozen feet away from the reunion.

“You’re back from Siberia already?” Stardust asked, bouncing on her feet.

“It was a short mission,” the man shrugged, metal arm gleaming. Rocket’s eyes glinted. Gamora pinched the back of his neck and he snarled. “We picked up Zemo, and then we blew the base to pieces and left.”

“Where’s Steve?”

“Debriefing,” the man said, and he and Stardust made a face at each other. He grinned and looked over at where Peter and the rest of the Guardians were standing. “Who’s –”

Peter bounced forwards, his boots giving him a bit of a boost. “I’m Peter Quill, and we’re the Guardians of the Galaxy. Here on a sort of missionary visit.”

“He means he crashed his ship into my backyard,” Stardust smirked, glancing sideways at Peter. “It’s okay, spaceman, he won’t judge you much. It’s not nearly as bad as the time he –”

The man clapped a hand over his mouth and smiled at Peter before sending a fake glower at Stardust. “He doesn’t need that information.” His hand jerked in an aborted movement. “Licking my hand isn’t going to make me move it, Webhead.” His eyes went back to Peter’s. “My name’s James.” He said, holding out his other hand to shake.

Stardust looked between the two of them with something like muted horror. She said something, but her voice was muffled by James’ hand. There was something that sounded like a growl, and then suddenly James was on his back with Stardust’s boot on his throat. “James,” she said, “I love you, but you’re an asshole.”

James grinned up at her. “Aw, I love you too, doll.” Peter narrowed his eyes at the accent. He had no clue where it was from, but it sounded like the sort of thing that would attract women. And God help him but apparently he didn’t want that to happen with Stardust.

James made like he was going to get up, so Stardust moved her leg away, and then, in a series of moves that Peter could barely track, James grabbed Stardust’s leg, pulled her to the ground, went rolling off of her when kicked up at him, and ended up in between her thighs as she sat calmly on the ground.

“Natasha loves teaching the next generation her tricks, James. She taught me and Kamala this one last week. It’s one of my favorite moves, but I much prefer the one where I can get a running start. What do you say?”

The man looked like he was laughing. He tapped her leg and she released him.

Peter was in shock. They’d moved even faster than Peter thought anyone other than Gamora and Nebula – and maybe Captain America – could. Behind him, Gamora was studying the Terrans with a new interest. Or any interest, if Peter was being honest. Groot was cheering from his shoulder, and Drax moved forwards to clap Stardust on the back. “Well fought, tiny lady.”

James grinned and threw an arm around Stardust’s shoulders. Peter was not happy. “Aw, I had her on the ropes.” He said, smirking down at Stardust, who rolled her eyes at him. Obviously an inside joke then.

“Please,” Stardust threw off James’ arm and sauntered ahead of them to the steps leading to the entrance of the main building. “You wish you had me on _anything_.”

*

Payton sat comfortably on the recliner in the Compound’s living room. Wanda was sitting on the loveseat with Vision as they watched a documentary on twins who’d been separated at birth. It looked interesting enough, but all of Payton’s attention was on the spaceman. Quill. Whatever.

He was leaning against the wall with the green woman, and Payton was almost certain that they were dating. It was strangely upsetting. After all, why should Payton care about their relationship status? They were _aliens._

 _Spaceman is only_ half _alien_ , her mind whispered. Payton told it to shut the hell up and mind its own damn business.

Clint plopped down next to her. “Sticky fingers,” he said in lieu of greeting as he planted his feet in her lap.

“Hawkass,” she greeted him, snatching Dr. Pepper from his hands.

Clint rolled his eyes to the heavens. “And you wonder why I call you sticky fingers?” He mused, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“You’re the worst, Clint,” Payton said. Her eyes shot back to Spaceman, only to see him staring back, grinning when he realized she was looking at him too. She waggled her fingers at him and Clint snorted.

“Taking lessons from Katy Perry, I see.” He nudged her leg with his foot.

She shot him a look as she took a swig of her stolen drink. He had a second one in the bucket, anyway. “Captain Jack Harkness, actually,” she smiled angelically as he scowled.

“You wouldn’t know –”

“Oh spider, my spider!” Tony sauntered into the room, sunglasses in place and tablet in hand. “I have an idea.”

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t work for you today. Come back at 8 AM tomorrow and I’ll be more willing to listen.”

Tony rolled his eyes. She could feel it. “I don’t mean an engineering idea, Brown Recluse, the spaceship is more than enough for me to work on for the next few days – I mean, you should absolutely give the Guardians a tour of our facilities. They’ll be staying here until their ship is fixed, so they might as well know the grounds.”

Payton looked up at him from underneath her lashes. “I’m still off duty, Tony.”

He smirked. “You’re never off duty as an Avenger.”

Payton glared at him. Spaceman perked up with interest. Tony and James had told him about the Avengers as they’d made their way into the common room.

“You’re an Avenger?” Spaceman asked.

Payton glanced over at him. Well, there went her anonymity. “Yeah,” she said, pushing Clint’s legs off her lap. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. Come on, move it, the Compound is a big plot of land. It’ll take us at least fifteen minutes to make our way to the gym, and that’s not even leaving the building.”

*

Peter almost skipped beside Stardust as she led them around her base. Well, not her base, but her team’s base. It made sense that she was an Avenger, after all. With how quickly she’d moved, there really couldn’t have been much of a chance that they hadn’t scooped her up. She’d been talking almost continuously since they’d left the common area. Really, there were a lot more Avengers than he’d thought there would be, but as Stardust had said, there were so many so there would be a larger group of individuals with a larger amount of skills to face the dangers. Peter wasn’t really sure what dangers Terra would face, considering the Guardians worked pretty damn hard to make sure nothing hit them, but according to Stardust, just Terrans were enough to hurt each other pretty bad.

Other than Stardust, there was Tony Stark (Iron Man), James Barnes (the Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Natasha Romanoff (the Black Widow), Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch), the Vision, Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Sam Wilson (the Falcon), James Rhodes (War Machine), Scott Lang (Antman), Hope Pym (the Wasp), King T’Challa (Black Panther), Stephen Strange (Sorcerer Supreme), Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), Brunhilde (Valkyrie), Loki, Daisy Johnson (Quake), Sharon Carter (Agent 13), and Steve Rogers (the _actual, original_ Captain America, holy shit Peter thought he’d died and gone to Heaven). There was also Thor and Loki, who tried to stay on Earth as much as they could but occasionally had to return to Asgard on business, which is where they were now.

Stardust had seemed disappointed when she learned they weren’t at the Compound. “Stupid intergalactic problems needing my favorite princes.” She’d muttered while James – _James Buchanan Barnes,_ also known as _Bucky Barnes_ , or alternatively, Peter’s _favorite_ Howling Commando growing up – patted her on the back and snickered at her. “Shut up James,” she’d said, and punched him in the shoulder hard enough for him to wince and rub it.

“So, here’s our training areas,” Stardust said, drawing Peter’s attention back to the present her. “We have different rooms for different training purposes, like Wanda and Loki and Doctor Strange need a room that can withstand their magic, Hawkass and Nat need a shooting range, the super soldiers or otherwise enhanced individuals need extremely durable equipment, and the various flying Avengers need to have enough space to perform their aerial maneuvers. And then there’s a regular gym area equipped with treadmills, weights, cycling machines, punching bags, blah blah blah.” Stardust pushed open the doors to the different rooms as she explained their purposes, and the last door opened to reveal a blond man beating the shit out of a punching bag. “And here we see Stevie going ham because James and Natasha are winning the prank war.”

Rogers – _holy shit it’s Captain America oh my shit how do I look_ – looked away from the punching bag to send Stardust a filthy look before punching the bag hard enough for it to break off the hook. He looked down at it and sighed before kicking it over to the three other bags lined up against the wall, either split or knocked off their hooks. “They bedazzled my suit so it says ‘Made in the USA’ on my ass, Payton. That’s a violation of my civil liberties.”

Stardust snickered. “That was my idea. Not putting ‘Made in the USA’ on your ass but bedazzling the suit. Well, bedazzling _something_. I wanted to beautify Fury’s eyepatch, but he’s always wearing it, so that was impossible.” Stardust shrugged and walked further into the room. “I’m pretty sure putting that on your ass was Winter’s idea. He’s an asshole.” Steve nodded. He really was.

The Guardians followed behind her, and Rogers’ eyes turned to them. He hadn’t been in the common area when they’d arrived, so this would be the first time he’d heard of them. Peter knew they needed to make a good first impression. “I thought you’d be bigger,” Peter said, and Gamora turned around and left the gym. That was fair.

Rogers blinked, looked like he was going to question them, and then turned to Stardust with the same bewildered look. Her shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, so Rogers turned back to Peter. “I’m 6’2’’?” He said, puzzled. “I don’t know how tall you want me to be.”

“Shaq,” Stardust said, giggling, and Rogers turned on his heel and pointed at her threateningly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Humans aren’t supposed to be that tall!” He said with feeling.

Judging by the looks in their eyes, Stardust egging Rogers on was a normal occurrence. One that they both wholeheartedly enjoyed. Maybe they were dating. Peter frowned. For some reason, he really didn’t like the idea of Stardust being with someone else.

*

Payton was very much enjoying the Guardian’s presence in the Compound. There were always at least five Avengers at the Compound at any given time, and they all showed up for the weekly movie night but having them all assembled around a much-too-small kitchen table always tugged at her heartstrings. As much as she’d been nervous about her place in the Avengers when she finally joined, they’d pulled her right in after her first smartass remark about “stupid, irresponsible, suicidal, headass bitches” after Clint jumped off a building so he could stab a Doombot through the weaker paneling at the back of their necks. He’d broken his ankle and was benched for two months while it healed. And then another month because he jumped off another building right after he got back into the field.

Wanda and Clint took an unhealthy amount of pleasure in jumping off buildings, and Clint found his excuse for doing it with Wanda there, since she could catch them both before they fell.

Payton only jumped off buildings because she had her webbing to swing from one to the other, and she had been very offended when he’d tried to pull her into the argument. Cue the comment.

That was beside the point, though. Payton had found a second family in the Avengers, and even though they were currently all in each other’s business trying to make room for the Guardians, she knew that none of them really minded. Families were supposed to be close, anyway.

The Guardians looked like they’d be fitting right in, too. Bruce and Drax were talking quietly, or at least as quietly as Drax was capable of. Bruce had plenty of experience with boisterous warriors, though, considering he was dating Thor and was smiling as he exchanged stories with the other large green man. Payton felt like Drax was definitely going to have to meet Hulk before the Guardians left to go back to space. They’d definitely get along well. (And _oh my god_ , Gamora’s face when Tony introduced Bruce as the strongest Avenger was the funniest thing she’d seen in _years_. The self-conscious scientist, still partially hunched in on himself in an attempt to make himself seem smaller (they were working on it), that was smiling cautiously and cleaning his glasses on his purple button-up apparently didn’t strike much of a chord in people if they hadn’t seen him turn mean and green, or even looked into some of his research into gamma radiation. And yes, Payton had maybe cried a little when she finally met him because she was so excited to talk to the man about his work.)

Natasha, Gamora, Carol, Wanda, Hope, Brunhilde, Daisy, and Sharon were all huddled together talking about whatever badass women talk about. If she was being honest, Payton was kind of scared to know what they were doing in their group, considering the look on their faces. She was much happier in her little group.

Kamala, Vision, Loki, Stephen, and Steve were talking to Groot, with Stephen and Vision translating while Loki held Kamala back from jumping Groot in a hug. He wasn’t exactly big enough for it at the moment, but Loki reassured her that he would be the correct size for it soon enough. That was about the only thing keeping her back.

At the opposite end of the table, the engineers were arguing, while Sam, Clint, and T’Challa watched with amusement and interjected occasionally to keep the debate going. Tony, Scott, Bucky, Rocket, and Rhodey were talking heatedly about the usefulness of Earth’s technologies against what the rest of the galaxy had been able to create. Personally, Payton half wished she was over there with the engineers of her team, arguing with Rocket until they were all tired of the argument but unwilling to concede their point, but she liked where she was good enough too.

Somehow, Payton had managed to nab a chair right next to spaceman, who still had the damn Walkman clipped onto his pants, and the headphones (old school headphones, like she’d used in the computer lab when she was in the third grade) hanging around his neck. She could barely hear the sounds of the Jackson Five over the rest of the occupants of the room, but she didn’t mind much since she could hear him just fine.

“So how come you’re only _half_ -human?” Payton asked, leaning back into her chair, turned to the side so she could face her spaceman, and her legs tucked under her.

Spaceman mirrored her in the chair next to her, facing her and tapping the armrest of his chair to the beat of ‘I Want You Back’. “Only one of my parents was human,” he answered, tilting his head back. “My dad was an alien who came to visit Terra and got my mom pregnant. He left before I was born, though.”

Payton tilted her head at him. “How did you end up in space, then?” She leaned towards him slightly.

Spaceman made a face at the question. “I was essentially abducted by the Ravagers, and taken in by them. They were supposed to take me to my dad, but they kept me instead, raised me to be like them. So, I was a Ravager until I broke out of intergalactic prison with these idiots and we became a team.”

Payton grinned. “What a meet-cute scenario. The first Avenger I met was Tony, and that was because I had an internship with Stark Industries. They had us look at blueprints and designs sometimes to see what we could be doing if we got a job there after the internship, and I got a blueprint with a purposeful error on it. Course, I didn’t know it was put there on purpose, and so I went to the team leader like ‘Mr. Collen, this series of equations isn’t structured correctly, and so the whole system of energy conservation in this phone is going to fail and a full battery will only give you two and a half minutes of phone life’. And then Tony hired me. I was wrong about the two and a half minutes, though. It was ‘ _two minutes and fifty-three seconds, better luck next time Underoos_.” Payton adopted the irked expression Tony was wearing at the moment so the spaceman would know who she was imitating. Then she rolled her eyes, because Tony had actually made a phone with that problem so he could see how quickly it would die. Showoff.

Spaceman looked relaxed as he sank into the chair. “How’d you become an Avenger?” He asked, and Payton was touched to see that he looked genuinely interested.

“I have a comment of making stupid comments under my breath, and at the time I wasn’t exactly used to there being other people around who could hear me make them, so I talked to myself almost constantly. Steve was in Tony’s workshop once, talking about the Crimson Spider’s latest adventure in downtown Manhattan, and I said something about my ribs being bruised for days after the asshole threw an entire bus full of people at me in the middle of the fight.” Spaceman sent her a look. “I heal fast, normally bruises not above broken bones last one day, two at the most.” He looked envious.

“Wish I had that little ability, Stardust,” he said with a lazy smile. “Even though I’m half-alien, I still get injured easier than anyone else on the team. Kind of hits team morale to have their leader beaten and bruised after a little skirmish with space monkeys.”

Payton laughed, the back of her neck tingling. Someone was watching them, and she turned her head to the side to see Gamora staring at her intently. Their eyes connected for a good three seconds before Gamora raised an eyebrow and turned away. Payton was pretty sure that meant she was going to die. Shit, so she and spaceman _had_ to be dating. She spared a moment to pout about it. Spaceman was hot like burning, knew a fuckton about technology ( _space technology!!!_ ) and liked the Jackson Five. And he called her ‘stardust’. All of that pointed to him being her soulmate, but he was apparently already tied to another (terrifying) woman.

Payton tried to look casual and not afraid when she looked back at spaceman. “I don’t think your girlfriend appreciates us talking.” She said, studying her cuticles intently. She was so focused on not looking up that she missed the look of complete bafflement that passed over his face. She wouldn’t have missed the words that would’ve come next if it wasn’t for the alarm to assemble.

“Captain, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Barton, and Ms. Parker, please suit up. There is a bank robbery in progress on 26th Street, and there are approximately 15 hostages inside, 4 of them small children. The police have requested your immediate backup.” JARVIS’ voice cut through the silence caused by the end of the alarm.

Payton was out of her chair before the AI even had a chance to finish speaking, running for the balcony. Normally she’d take the elevator to her room, but it would be faster to swing there.

Steve, Bucky, and Clint made a beeline for the fireman’s pole in the corner of the kitchen, sliding down quickly. Steve and Bucky ran to the Quinjet since they’d left their uniforms in there after the whole Siberia thing, and Clint made a stop at the weapon wall in the common area to grab a spare bow and quiver before heading after them. Three minutes after the call to assemble, the four were in the Quinjet and on their way to the bank.

Payton rubbed her wrist through the suit she’d gotten when she joined the Avengers, the lettering slightly warmer than the rest of her arm.

*

In the aftermath of the assemble alarm, the Guardians sat in the dining area of the Avengers Compound, looking a little stunned. That was the quickest call to action they’d ever seen.

Natasha felt proud of her team, looking at them. The growth of the Avengers into what it was today was something that Natasha was very grateful to have been a part of, and she was hoping that the Guardians would get to experience it as well.

They’d faced a lot of trials to get where they were, but they’d managed to reach the point where they bounced off of each other and could rely on each other to have their backs. That wasn’t always easy in a group like theirs. The Avengers had started off as a small group, like the Guardians, but they knew that just six people (occasionally five, when Thor was off-world) wouldn’t be able to defend the whole planet at the drop of a hat, so they recruited like-minded people. They reached out to people they knew held the same values (Rhodey), met new people on their missions that they invited along (Sam, Carol, Brunhilde), found some by complete accident (Payton, Kamala), and found some old faces that knew good people when they saw them and tossed them their way (Daisy).

Natasha was _very_ happy with the addition of Daisy to their group. It gave Clint another baby superhero to adopt. His collection had grown extensively since he’d joined the Avengers, and he was very pleased about it. He’d first picked up Natasha herself way back when, then Wanda, then Vision, Payton, Loki (who’d been very happy about the removal of Thanos from his mind), Kamala, and finally Daisy. From the looks of it, he was also planning on pulling the latest superkid, another archer (name: Kate Bishop) into his nest of superheroes who he felt could use a little guidance.

 _And_ , Natasha thought, side-eyeing the way Clint was staring at Quill, _he might also scoop up the Spider’s latest catch._ She smirked, seeing the way the Guardian’s leader was rubbing his left arm. _Spaceman and Stardust_ , she thought, pleased, _it has a nice ring to it._

*

After the mission, Payton returned to the Compound and continued speaking with Spaceman as though she’d never left. His eyes kept catching on Payton’s suit and the fit of it as they spoke, and Payton got more and more flustered every time his eyes snapped back up to hers, especially because he made a point to explain to her that he and Gamora were not dating, nor were they even slightly romantically interested in the other.

Payton shivered every time he called her ‘stardust’, and hope began to bloom in her chest.

Over the course of the next two weeks, that hope fostered and flowered into something gorgeous to look at. The Avengers decided that, in order to see the full force of the threat that Thanos posed, a delegate of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would go with the Guardians to scope the danger that awaited Earth when the mad titan’s army arrived.

Payton was chosen to go, and though she highly suspected that Natasha played a role in that, she couldn’t bring herself to mind much. At this point, she was pretty sure spaceman was her soulmate. Now, she just had to figure out how to bring it up.

The Avengers were all saying their goodbyes to Payton when spaceman appeared at the door to his fixed spaceship. “Alright, everything is ready to go. Rocket is already dismantling the tech you gave him, Supernova,” he nodded to Tony, who grinned. Steve stood behind him, arm wrapped easily around his waist, _winghead_ written in Tony’s block letters. Tony had his arms crossed over his chest, and you could just make out _shellhead_ written in Steve’s chicken-scratch on the outside of his right arm.

Payton glanced down at her arm where _stardust_ was covered by her long sleeves. She didn’t know if spaceman was her soulmate, but she didn’t want to cheat by recognizing each other’s name for the other. If they were soulmates, she wanted them to be soulmates because they loved each other, not because they noticed that the term of endearment was written in their handwriting.

Spaceman met her eyes when she turned away from Clint, who was fussing like a mother dropping her only child off at college. Honestly, he was acting like he didn’t have six other superkids to dote on while she was gone. Payton grinned at the half-alien in front of her. He was just as excited as Payton was that she would be joining them in space. Her smile turned a little softer as she grabbed his hand and tugged him back towards his own ship.

“C’mon spaceman,” she said. “The cosmos are waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> hey there its ya girl, kc. uhhh, this has been in my drafts for MONTHS, not going to lie. also, its been in my drafts as less than 5000 words, bc i thought it would be relatively simple to figure out. boy was i wrong. it turned into a behemoth of a one-shot, & i am sorry. anyways thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed it!


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